Dear Mayor Barrett, I have been a supporter of yours since 1992, and today I’ve never been more disappointed in your leadership. My friends, my neighbors, my children, and I are all marching, and you have enabled the police and national guard to operate as an occupying military force that is treating our citizens as enemy combatants rather than concerned citizens…
Read more >For years, I have wanted to tour civil rights sites in Alabama. The Equal Justice Initiative’s new Legacy Museum and Peace and Justice Memorial grew that interest. The history is inspiring and it is heavy – the reminders that the struggle continues are everywhere. I’ve studied this history extensively, but I think anyone visiting would find it instructive, moving, and…
Read more >Harris Wofford’s death on Martin Luther King Day was fitting, even poetic. He was a pioneering champion of civil rights and national service. He inspired thousands of people to believe in and pursue big ideas, to serve causes larger than themselves. He was also a kind, curious, warm, thoughtful, and beloved friend I will sadly miss. I first met Harris…
Read more >America was founded with an inspiring vision of a democratic society compromised by two original sins of white supremacy, slavery and genocide. Our nation has never fully reconciled and amended for either. Instead, these sins tragically evolved over time. While more and more of us understand the evolution of slavery through Jim Crow laws, widespread racial discrimination, and the prison…
Read more >My daughter Olivia texted me this afternoon that Vel Phillips had died. Mrs. Phillips deserves the many superlatives used to describe her. She was a pioneer, giant, and lifelong fighter in the movements for civil rights, women’s rights, and human rights. Honoring her often begins with her legendary firsts: first African American woman to graduate from University of Wisconsin law…
Read more >At the Collective Impact Forum and Tamarack Institute’s Champions for Change training in San Antonio, I led a dinner conversation with Michael McAfee, President of Policy Link, about how results-based leadership, racial equity, and other approaches have strengthened the Promise Neighborhoods initiative and their other work. Our 45 minute conversation is now available as a podcast at The Collective Impact Forum
Read more >“They still close the gates every night,” our guide explained as we drove by the 44 foot high wall that still divides the Catholic Falls Road district from the Protestant Shankhill district in Belfast. It was a stunning reminder that peace is not an event, but a process. I’ve visited Northern Ireland twice this year and experienced the hope of…
Read more >South Carolina is finally taking down its Confederate Flag, although I loved when the woman climbed the pole and took it down last week. They said it is going into a museum, so I wanted to offer my text for the display. Here is a symbol of treason, terrorism, white supremacy & oppression waved by people who hated the ideals…
Read more >I read a New York Times article a few months ago about a plantation converted into a museum on slavery about an hour outside New Orleans, so I planned a visit while in New Orleans on business. It has always bugged me that people take plantation tours or visit resorts on plantations that whitewash the awful history behind these estates….
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